WarpDancer (Cyberpunk: Edgerunners)

Unmasked

-Sasha POV-

The two of them stared one another down amid the growing silence in the warehouse. It wasn't possible to make out either of their expressions, with the merc's mask and Taylor's back to us there was no way to gauge the situation, the only thing to do was sit and wait. 'Pretending to be me'? Is that what Taylor had said? It was hard to tell which was more insane; To be facing off against a living legend? Or to have your new teammate claim that he was that legend? Both were hard to believe, but given what I've seen... 

The silence is broken by a loud distorted burst of laughter as the mercenary doubles over, hands on his knees. No one moves, no one interjects, he simply laughs for what feels like an eternity, though that may just be me coming down from the rush of the past few seconds. 

"You got a circ loose kid?" The masked man's voice is laced with venom when his laughter abruptly cuts off. "You have any idea who you're fuckin talkin too shit stain?"

"Not a clue." Taylor responds flatly. 

"Oh really... Guess I'll have to spell it out for you then." Suddenly, the masked man steps forwards, dropping off of the edge of the raised platform at the far end of the building before seemingly vanishing with a resounding boom. Again there's the sensation of my brain lagging behind, unable to follow the sheer speed of what had just happen, but when the brief haze subsides he's face to face with Taylor, only a few feet away.

"I'm the god damn WarpDancer kid, ring any bells?" The red glow of the eyes behind the mask seems to burn with intensity now. From the beginning something felt off to me about this guy, different from most people I've met, and as this confrontation went on it was only growing worse.

"Course." Taylor smiles softly, meeting the gaze with a calm expression. "People have been calling me that for years. Personally I think it's a little dramatic, but whatever works." 

"Ha! You really have lost it brat." The merc nearly spits in response, taking a few steps back. "Not sure what kind of implant let you get in here like that, but if you think you're fast enough to use it again you're outta your mind."

"Oh? You mean you didn't see it?" Taylor tilts his head to the side. "Figured if you're gonna jack my style, klep my name, and then threaten my friends, you'd at least be able to catch that." 

Now Taylor was mirroring that same agression, the two were growing increasingly hostile the more they spoke. This was bad, any second shit was going to kick off, we gotta do something. As a number of possible options rushed through my head I turn to Lucy to get her attention, but she seems to be taking the situation much differently than I'd expected. 

Lucy was hardly paying attention anymore, at this point she'd fished out a pack of cigarettes and was in the process of lighting one even as this conversation was taking place. I could practically feel my jaw drop, has she lost her mind?! Noticing the look on my face out of the corner of her eye she laughs quietly to herself, closing her eyes and shaking her head softly. 

"We'll catch you up when this is over, just chillout for now, alright?" She places a hand on my knee and squeezes reassuringly, smiling softly before turning back to face the commotion. Honestly, despite it all it was a little comforting to see Lucy so calm, I couldn't help but feel like it would somehow be alright like she seemed to think it would be. Unfortunately I wasn't the only one to hear her, and based on the masked merc's posture he definitely didn't like her attitude.